To:A. M. STOPANI[1]

To Tu—ra from Lenin, private

Written:Written November 10, 1904Published:First published in 1930.

      Sent from Geneva to Baku.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1974,

      Moscow,Volume 34,

      pages264-265.Translated:Clemens DuttTranscription\Markup:D. MorosPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

DearComrade,

Iwas extremely glad to have your letter. Please write punctually every week,
even if only a few lines, and make sure that all addresses are usable and that
you have reserve addresses for letters and rendezvous. It’s a downright scandal
that the adherents of the Majority are so scattered! No common work is possible
without regular contact and we have had nothing from you for over six months.

Iabsolutely and fully agree with everything you write concerning the need to
unite the Majority, to rally its committees and prepare for a united congress
capable of en forcing the will of the Party workers in Russia. Very close
contact is essential for all this, otherwise we shall drift apart and you will
know absolutely nothing of our common affairs.

TheC.C. has now wholly fused with the Minority and hasvirtuallybecome part of its secret organisation, the aim of which is to fight against a
congress at all costs. The new decisions of the Council plainly falsify both the
counting of votes and the will of the committees (supplement toIskraNos. 73-74. Have you seen it?). Now we must be prepared for the fact that they
will not convene a congress on any account, will not shrink from any violation
of the Rules, nor from any further flouting of the Party. They openly jeer at
us, saying “where is your strength?” We should indeed be behaving
like children if we confined ourselves tofaithin a congress, without
preparing straight away to counter force by force. For this purpose we must:
1) immediately unite all the Majority committees and set
up a Bureau of the Majority Committees (the initiative has already been taken by
Odessa+Nikolayev-+-Ekaterinoslav) to combat the Bonapartism of the central
bodies;
2) exert every effort to support and extend in every waythe Majority’s publishing house (started here by Bonch-Bruyevich and myself; Bonch-Bruyevich is only the publisher). A group
of writers in Russia has already set to work on this and you should immediately
begin collecting and sending all kinds of material, correspondence, leaflets,
comments, and so on and so forth, especially from workers and about the
workers’ movement. Do this without fail and immediately. (If from now on you do not begin
to send us an item every week, we shall break off relations with you.)

Inthe matter of the Bureau, what has been done already
is this. The Odessa+Nikolayev+Ekaterinoslav committees
took the following decision (quote in full) ...——The 22
answered them as
follows ...——[2]

Youmust try to go to Tiflis as soon as possible and hand over both the one and
the other. Let them speedily join. It will, of course, be possible to add
members from the Caucasus to the Bureau. And so, let all the committees of the
Caucasus immediately give their opinion about the idea of a Bureau, that is to
say, write to us and to St. Petersburg (or Riga?) (address..., key...), whether
they agree to a Bureau and whether they want changes or additional
candidates. For heaven’s sake see to it that this matter of prime
importance is dealt With properly, sensibly and quickly.

Somecomrades, are demanding a conference of the Majority committees in
Russia. We here think this is not only expensive but bureaucratic and
ineffectual. But we must press on with might and main. It is not worth while
coming together to elect a Bureau; it is much better to reach agreement on this
by letter or by a tour made by one or two comrades. When the Bureau speaks out
and is joined by Ekaterinoslav+Odessa+Nikolayev+St. Petersburg+Moscow+Riga+the Caucasus, then this Bureau will at once be speaking as the
representative of the organised Majority.

Andso, for heaven’s sake, make haste and answer speedily.

Allthe very best.Yours,N. Lenin

[1]Stopani,Alexander Mitrofanovich(1871–1932)—professional
revolutionary, joined the revolutionary movement in 1892. At the Second
Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. (1903) and after it—a Bolshevik. After the
Congress, on the instructions of the C.C., he worked in Yaroslavl, where he
organised an illegal printing-plant; left for Baku in the summer of 1904
after the plant was raided by the police; was one of the organisers of the
Baku Bolshevik Committee. After the October Socialist Revolution occupied
leading Party posts.

[2]Themanuscript contains Lenin’s note: “(quote in full)” followed by dots
and special marks indicating that the text of the corresponding resolution
of the Conference of the Southern Committees was to be quoted here. The
text of the resolution was not quoted in the letter, nor was the reply of
the “22”.